An optoelectronic component may, for example, be a component that emits electromagnetic radiation or a component that absorbs electromagnetic radiation. A component that absorbs electromagnetic radiation may, for example, be a photodiode or a solar cell. A component that emits electromagnetic radiation may, for example, be an LED or an OLED. An organic optoelectronic component may have an anode, a cathode and an organically functional layer system formed in between.
The organic functional layer system may have an emitter layer in which electromagnetic radiation is generated, a charge carrier pair generation layer structure composed of two or more charge carrier pair-generating layers in each case (“charge generating layer”, CGL) for charge carrier pair generation, and an electron-blocking layer, also referred to as hole transport layer (HTL), and a hole-blocking layer, also referred to as electron transport layer (ETL), in order to direct the flow of current.
The anode and/or cathode may, for example, include or be formed from a metallic material, for example a metal or a semimetal, and/or another material suitable for conducting current. For example, it is possible to use nanowires, for example silver nanowires (Ag nanowires), or nanotubes, for example carbon nanotubes (C nanotubes) as material for the anode or cathode. The nanowires or nanotubes may be embedded in binders and be applied together with the binder to a surface on which the corresponding electrode is to be formed. The binder can be cured and, in the cured state, the nanowires or nanotubes may be physically and/or electrically connected to one another and fixed on the surface. The nanowires or nanotubes may be aligned in all three spatial directions within the layer formed by the binder, for example including completely or partly at right angles to the surface on which they are disposed. Because of the vertical direction component of the alignment of the nanowires or nanotubes, they may also protrude from and/or stick out of the layer of binder. Such nanowires or nanotubes protruding out of the layer of binder may constitute a major risk to the corresponding optoelectronic component, since the layer(s) formed upon the layer of binder may be damaged and/or wholly or partly short-circuited by the nanowires or nanotubes.